Katie Nicholl, the former Mail on Sunday royal editor accused by Prince Harry of illegally spying on him, has spoken out, revealing that the pair partied together years before his court defeat. Nicholl told Sunrise she was invited into Prince Harry’s social circle during his younger years, insisting the stories at the centre of his failed privacy lawsuit came from legitimate sources rather than illegal information gathering.
Party Invitations and Inner Circle Access
“I was at many of these parties with Prince Harry in his young days ... Harry invited me into one of his parties, introduced me to all of his friends. He took me right into his inner sanctum,” she said. Nicholl said the suggestion she had somehow infiltrated Harry’s inner circle to obtain stories was “ludacris”. She clarified she was not referring to Harry’s closest friends, but said members of those wider friendship groups regularly spoke to journalists.
Naivety About Media Leaks
“I think Prince Harry has been very naive about that idea that no one would ever talk about him. That was simply not the case,” she said. Nicholl also defended the newspaper’s reporting, acknowledging phone hacking had occurred elsewhere in the British media but insisting it was never part of her newsroom. “Historically there was some phone hacking at some newspapers. It didn’t happen at the mail ... I spent 17 years on that paper and we did journalism the good old fashion way,” she said.
Court Dismissal and Vindication
The comments come after the UK High Court dismissed Prince Harry’s privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, ruling there was insufficient evidence to support allegations of unlawful information gathering. Seventeen articles written by Nicholl were cited during the proceedings. She said she was one of around 40 journalists prepared to take the witness stand to explain exactly how they sourced their reporting.
Lack of Evidence and Judicial System Criticism
“For many years now, I’ve had the accusations levelled against me with not a shred of evidence,” she said. “I do feel vindicated; I also feel that it’s a pretty poor reflection on the British judicial system that it even got to this stage, when you break down the case and look at the absolute lack of evidence from the other side,” she said.
Ruling and Reactions
Justice Matthew Nicklin dismissed all claims brought by Harry and six other high-profile claimants, including singer Elton John and actor-model Elizabeth Hurley, finding the allegations had not been proven. Harry has criticised the ruling as a “whitewash” but said he was not surprised by the result. “However, the lengths to which the court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted,” he said in a joint statement with another claimant, anti‑racism activist Doreen Lawrence. Associated Newspapers described the ruling as a vindication of its journalists.
